[ASA] ACAMAR Announcement

[Kate Gunn]

To The Australian Astronomical Community -

Background:
The Chinese Academy of Sciences ("CAS)" and the Australian Department of Industry, Innovation, Science, Research and Tertiary Education ("Industry") signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) in February 2013 to collaborate on areas of common interest within astronomy, astrophysics and cosmology. The first meeting of the joint CAS/Industry working group took place in Nanjing, China, on 11th November 2013. At this meeting, it was resolved to establish a joint China-Australia research centre in astronomy. This was envisaged as a "virtual" centre, to serve as an umbrella and coordination point for bilateral astronomical collaborations.

ACAMAR:
This virtual centre, now called ACAMAR, was formalised at a meeting at the National Astronomical Observatories, Chinese Academy of Sciences (NAOC), Beijing on Saturday 12 September 2015 at a meeting attended by:

Professor Brian Schmidt ANU
Professor Elaine Sadler USYD
Professor Lister Staveley-Smith ICRAR UWA
Professor Michael Burton UNSW
Ms Kate Gunn  USYD
Dr Mita Brierley AAL

These people, along with David Luchetti (Dept of Industry), make up the Australian ACAMAR Advisory Group. See http://www.caastro.org/acamar for more information.  We were also delighted that the Australian Ambassador, Frances Adamson attended the signing ceremony, and indicated the strong support of the Australian Government for ACAMAR.

ACAMAR was formed through an agreement between the University of Sydney through the ARC Centre of Excellence for All-sky Astrophysics (CAASTRO) and the National Astronomical Observatories of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (NAOC). It will serve as an umbrella and coordination point for bilateral astronomical collaborations. It will also facilitate cooperation on future telescopes such as the Square Kilometre Array and boost Antarctic astronomy.

The new Centre is overseen by two Directors, one from Australia, Professor Brian Schmidt, and one from China, Professor Lifan Wang. The Australian secretariat for ACAMAR is hosted by CAASTRO at The University of Sydney, while the Chinese secretariat is hosted by the Purple Mountain Observatory of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, in Nanjing.

At the meeting held in Beijing, the main focus was on discussion of collaboration, and science program information exchange. It was agreed that by facilitating the exchange of students, researchers and technical staff between institutions, ACAMAR will also help to develop skills and knowledge in both China and Australia. The options for funding these exchanges were discussed included the Chinese Scholarship Council SKA student program, and a variety of research exchange programs. There will also be an Annual Workshop held, alternating between Australia and China. The first workshop will be held from 5-7 April 2016 in Perth.

Look forward to more information on the student and visitor exchange program in Early 2016, as well as information on the first workshop.

Regards, Brian Schmidt
Chair, Australian ACAMAR Advisory Group

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